


Studio A (Every day can be Tuesday as long as it's Tuesday with you)

by merpwrites



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Fluff, Joel going on tirades because of people being stupid, M/M, Pure shameless pining, also cliches, because they're all in a studio ~~~~~, its like band AU but not, lots of cliches in here people, recording studio au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 03:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4772591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merpwrites/pseuds/merpwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sean really, really should hate Tuesdays - they're long and stressful and the only plus is the fact that Joel will come bring him lunch and Sean doesn't have to pay for it - but he suddenly, inexplicably, irrevocably loves them.</p>
<p>It wasn't that sudden, it's very explicable, and it's only irrevocable if Tuesdays continue to be the day that one Adam Kovic comes in to record.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Studio A (Every day can be Tuesday as long as it's Tuesday with you)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Spovic recording studio/band AU thing that its super cliché and super fluffy.
> 
> Enjoy!

Tuesday’s were Sean’s favorite days.

Now, Tuesday seems like a random day to be Sean’s favorite, and on the surface, it was. Friday, all things considering, should be Sean’s favorite day. Sean only had to work until one on Fridays because Friday was the day that he and Matt did the final mixes and last-minute edits of the week, and once the 1 PM deadline for the week hit they were free to go. Fridays was the day that Sean would go home and play HotS with Joel for a few hours, start drinking, and then stream scary games on Twitch while answering questions that he really should be more careful about answering, honestly. Sometimes, Joel would coerce Matt and Sean both to “come out on the town” with him, which usually would end up with the three of them at a bar, singing karaoke with various levels of inebriation. Saturday was also a contender, due to the fact that Saturday was the one day of the week where Sean had no obligations and  _also_  didn’t have work the next day. Even Thursday, which was play-Civilization-with-Lawrence day, would, for all intents and purposes, seem like a better day than Tuesday.

Tuesday was non-stop working – Joel always liked packing in all the studio musicians earlier in the week, because all of the artists signed to their label (Funhaus Records) prefer to record later in the week. And, of course, Sean was “the only one” Joel trusted to get the freelance studio musicians “recorded quickly and with quality”, so Sean’s Mondays and Tuesdays were packed with musician after musician in whatever fucking bullshit order Joel decides it makes sense recording in – the bari sax player following the bass guitarist following a percussionist following a trumpet player? Sure, why not! Oh, they’re for four different groups/songs? No problem! Oh, and Sean has to do all of the recording and mixing by himself. Because, again, Sean’s “the only one” Joel trusts with dealing with the studio musicians.

(Really, Sean’s the only one allowed to do it because some of these studio musicians are fucking assholes, more so than the signed acts. Lawrence wasn’t allowed to after the Great Timpani Incident of 2013, and Matt claims that it’s in his contract that he never has to record studio musicians. Sean asked Joel one day if this was true and Joel just cackled before patting Sean’s hat-covered head and reminding Sean that “Matt can request to only record on the fifth moon on the seventh day every twenty years because Matt does so much stuff outside of the studio that he wouldn’t have time even if he wanted to”. It took Sean a couple minutes to decipher exactly  _what_ Joel was saying, but once he did, he wanted to hit himself because obviously Matt didn’t have time to record studio musicians. And yeah, there were others employed that  _could_ record, and sometimes, on Mondays, Sean shares the workload with a pair of guys that insist on working in Studio B and  _only_ Studio B, but neither Joel nor Sean really counts them. This, effectively, forces the roll to fall to Sean. Nice, timid, knowledgeable Sean who could get things done quickly and efficiently and also  _not_ start a fight).

Sean really,  _really_  should hate Tuesdays – they’re long and stressful and the only plus is the fact that Joel will come bring him lunch and Sean doesn’t have to pay for it – but he suddenly, inexplicably, irrevocably loves them.

It wasn’t that sudden, it’s very explicable, and it’s only irrevocable if Tuesdays continue to be the day that one Adam Kovic comes in to record.

Kovic was a studio guitarist – he went from label to label and sight-read/improved/whatever the label needed for the day. Sometimes, he didn’t even know who or what he was playing for until he heard the same tune on the radio or on television or in a movie. And on Tuesdays, Kovic drove to Funhaus Records to record from 11 AM-12:30 PM.

Adam started doing work with Funhaus through Matt, actually, who was sick of listening to Joel whine about how studio guitarists were never as good as they claimed to be and recommended that the curly-haired studio manager called up his old friend.

Adam originally came in on a dreary Wednesday afternoon in November – even the normally cheery California weather couldn’t withstand winter’s reaching claws and had succumbed to a particularly frigid (for Southern California) cold front.

“You must be Adam!” A voice called to him milliseconds after Adam stepped into the lobby of the record studio. A lithe man clothed much better than Adam’s ever been dressed in his life practically  _sauntered_ towards him and started prattling off information – his name was Joel Rubin, he’s the manager of the actual  _recording_  aspect of Funhaus, he’s very happy that Adam could come in on such short notice – Adam wasn’t sure how exactly Matt dealt with this man every day, but he suddenly had more respect for his old friend.

“It’s my pleasure, really.” Adam insisted, cutting off Joel’s tirade. Joel, thankfully, didn’t take offense to this and instead beamed up at Adam and chauffeured him into an elevator.

“The recording studios are downstairs,” Joel told him as the lift jerked to life, “Spoole should already be down there setting up for you.”

“Spoole?” Adam asked, causing Joel to chuckle.

“He’s going to be recording you today. Don’t worry, he’s the best of the best, despite being a grown man that primarily responds to the name ‘Spoole’.” Joel assured him, and Adam forced himself to smile and laugh at Joel’s joking tone.

Honestly, Adam couldn’t give two shits about who recorded him or what they called themselves. Adam had just been under the impression that Matt was going to record him. Matt already knew how he liked his setup, and his process, and all that bullshit so the fact that Matt  _wasn’t_ going to be in the studio with him was just  _slightly_ off-putting.

_Maybe this Spoole is a new guy and they’re testing him out_. Adam reasoned with himself, resolutely ignoring Joel’s stream of comments about this “Spoole” guy being so great and talented, because why else would Matt  _not_ pair up with Adam?

Adam was half-tempted to ask Joel why Matt wasn’t going to be there, but then thought better of it. Joel was giving him a chance, and honestly, giving him a  _lot_ more money than any of the other studios he’s worked with have even  _thought_  about offering him, and god _damn_ does Adam want to actually drink not-shitty beer and buy the new Batman game without worrying whether or not it’s going to cut into his grocery money.

Adam was still stuck in his own head when Joel ushered him into the studio, all the way until the moment that the man sitting at the mixer – he assumed that it was Spoole – stood to great them.

Never in his life had Adam’s heart gone from zero to sixty quite like it did the moment he got a good look at Spoole, because holy motherfuck was this man  _the actual cutest thing in the world_. Adam couldn’t stop himself from smiling at him if he tried, purposely stepping forward and holding out a hand for the smaller man to shake.

“I’m Adam, it’s nice to meet you.” Adam said, and really, he wasn’t lying, because if this guy was as good as he was nice to look at, this recording session would be a breeze.

“I’m Sean, but most people call me Spoole.” Sean said, placing his palm in Adam’s and pumping twice before letting go and ducking his head down.

Adam thought it was cute that Sean was shy. What he didn’t know was that Sean was afraid that if he maintained any more of a conversation he would start staring at Adam.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to it, then.” Joel said with a smile and a parting wave, waltzing out the door before either Sean or Adam had a chance to respond.

“Uh, so go ahead in. I set you up already, but I’m sure you like everything in a specific spot so feel free to move stuff around, just uh – don’t unplug anything, well you probably knew that this isn’t your first rodeo or anything and uh – yeah. I’ll just finish doing this.” Sean stuttered out, slamming himself down into his chair, and Adam swallowed down his laughter.

“Yeah, of course.” Adam pushed open the door and set his guitar down, fully expecting to have to move the entire setup around, but upon further inspection, everything seemed to be exactly where he liked it. And, on top of that, all of the equipment were his favorite brands.

_Huh._

“Did Matt tell you how I liked my setup?” Adam asked aloud. He heard a  _click_  and some soft feedback before Sean’s voice came flowing out of the speakers.

“I’m sorry, the booth audio was muted, what did you say?” Sean said, and through the glass Adam could just barely see the other man’s sheepish expression under the shadow of his baseball cap.

“Nah, you’re fine, I just asked if you talked to Matt about how I like my setup.”

“What? No, Joel forced Matt to use some of his vacation days this week because apparently Matt hasn’t taken a vacation day in years and Joel’s sick of it. That’s uh – that’s why you’re stuck with little ol’ me, sorry.” Sean replied, rubbing at the back of his neck and letting out a little giggle.

_I cannot believe he just giggled_. Adam thought, immediately followed by  _I cannot believe I liked it._

“No, no, it’s not a problem at all. I’m just a little shocked, really, I’ve never come to a studio where someone’s set the equipment up this way.”

“I uh – I think it sounds better, the like, way the mics are angled. It picks up the rawest form of your sound. Got in a lot of trouble from some of my professors about it in school but I mean – I’m working for Funhaus Records and they had to resort to teaching cause they couldn’t land a steady gig so…” Sean trailed off, tugging on the brim of his hat, “I’m all – I’m ready to go when you are.” He said, pulling on a pair of headphones that were resting around his neck.

Adam quickly pulled out his guitar and checked the tuning before perching himself on the stool in the middle of the room and pulling on his own set of headphones that had been left propped up against the music stand for him. Adam sent a thumbs up and a big smile over in Sean’s general direction, and soon enough, Sean’s voice was in his ears.

“Alright, you’re the last one we need for this song, so I’ve got everything else already mixed. Do you want to take a listen first or just go for it?” Sean asked, and Adam hums.

“If we’ve got the time, can I take a listen?”

“Yeah, of course!” Sean chirped, and Adam nearly laughed at how excited he sounded. Instantly, a dark, synth-pop beat started pounding into Adam’s eardrums. Glancing at the sheet music on the stand, he doesn’t recognize the name of the artist, but he starts bobbing his head along to the beat nonetheless, picking out some random melodic ideas to get into the feel of the music. Adam’s full-out jamming by the time the song ends, and immediately Sean’s voice replaces the unfinished song.

“That was so good, Adam, you’re amazing!” Sean gushed, and when Adam looked over at him, he could see the blush coating the other’s cheeks, “Do you wanna hear it?”

“Hear it? You were recording?”

“Well, yeah, I mean, it’s not what the artist wrote, but I figured we’ll save it anyway, give her some options, yanno?”

Adam shrugged, “Sure, when it’s ready.”

“It’s already ready.” Sean responded instantly, brow furrowed.

“Wait a second,” Adam said, turning to face Sean fully, “you recorded me, mixed it together, and did all that other fancy shit I know nothing about already? All at once? By yourself?”

“I mean – yes?” Adam watched Sean duck his chin to his chest.

“That’s fucking amazing. I’ve never seen anyone do that before. Usually the labels I work with have two or three guys in the room at once and I always have to wait for playback.” Adam admitted, openly staring at Sean, who just sputtered out something about it not being that great and here I’ll just play it back before the tell-tale  _click_  of the audio switching over was heard before the same song started with Adam’s own playing incorporated.

The session went more smoothly than Adam had ever experienced, and when Joel popped his head in and told them that Sean’s next studio musician was there to record, Adam was shocked that they had already spent so much time recording.

“So, you have fun?” Joel asked as he escorted Adam back upstairs. Adam nodded – maybe a bit too vigorously – and grinned at Joel.

“Yeah, Sean’s great. I’d love to come back next week, or whenever you need me, really.”

“Alright, well, we’ve got plenty of work to get done if you want to do it. We usually record studio musicians on Mondays and Tuesdays – Monday is already booked up for next week, but we has some room on Tuesday if you can make it. If not, Matt can record you on Wednesday in between signed acts.”

_Uh-oh._  Wednesday was really the only day Adam had free, gigs at other studios and clubs taking up the majority of his week.

But hot damn, if he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to listen to Sean’s voice for an hour and a half every week.

“I can do Tuesday.” Adam finally said, and Joel looked at him in shock.

“Really? The other day you said you can’t do Tuesdays.”

“Yeah, well, change in schedule. Stick me in wherever Sean has a free block.” Adam said with a wave of his hand, sauntering out the elevator doors and into the chilly air before Joel had a chance to respond.

(Adam later vehemently insists that it was so that he would look like a badass, but really it was because he was too scared of Joel questioning him and finding out that Adam’s entire motivation was suddenly  _just_  to get to know this cute little hat-wearing man. Joel actually figured this out very quickly on his own but doesn’t tell Adam that he knows his intentions. And maybe Joel starts a betting pool that very same day about ‘when Sean’s finally going to go on a date’. But neither Adam nor Sean ever find out about that, so really, it’s not that important).

* * *

The thing about Joel is that Joel has a tendency to explicitly  _not_ tell Sean things, just for the sheer entertainment of watching Sean flounder. So when Adam walked in on Tuesday at 11 AM – all broad shoulders and pretty brown eyes and tight clothes – well, Sean nearly fell off of his chair.

“Adam! Uh – hi, good – it’s uh, good to see you.” Sean spluttered, and Adam’s eyes crinkled when he smiled, and  _wow_  why did Joel do this to him?

“Good to see you too, Sean,”  _He called me Sean!_ “how we doing this today?”

“Well, there was a trumpet player before you so everything’s all kinds of messed up, you’ll have to give me a minute…” Sean stood up from his chair and started moving towards the door to the recording studio. Before he could get very far, a large hand was suddenly pressed against his chest, fingers splayed.

“Woah, woah, buddy, you haven’t had a break yet today? I can set it up, sit down and have a snack or something.” Adam said, gently pushing Sean back into his chair (against Sean’s feeble protests) and deftly sets the studio up himself, shooting Sean a smile through the glass when he was ready.

* * *

About halfway through the session, Joel waltzed through the door, holding boxes of Chinese food and already mid-sentence about a game of HotS he had played the night before. Sean barely even started, used to this behavior, and simply pulled one headphone back from his left ear and held out his left hand. Joel dropped a box into Spoole’s hand and plopped down beside him, still chattering away.

Sean began talking Adam through the next set of songs that needed to be done, occasionally commenting on Joel’s – absolutely horrible – HotS strategies. Adam, in between recordings, heard all of this banter and watched with awe as Sean deftly mixed tracks and kept track of the recording process while also schooling Joel on how to properly build Malfurion –  _no, Joel, if you’re doing a healing build you need life seed, not twilight dream…you’re not building an offensive character!…No fucking way you need vengeful roots, you’re a healer!_

* * *

This became a new routine over the coming weeks. Sean began to expect Adam to show up, Joel saying that he scheduled him at the same time every week; Adam, after not being able to switch another gig to Wednesday, wound up cutting his contract with them  _just_  so that he could record with (aka see) Sean every week. Sean gradually (not gradually at all) starts talking about Adam every chance he get. In fact, it gets to the point that as soon as Adam’s name comes out of Sean’s mouth, Matt immediately huffs and leaves the room. Sean finds him later and apologizes every time, but Matt’s reaction is mostly due to the fact that any time he was  _not_ at work, Adam was texting/telling him all about how cute Sean was and how great and talented and  _adorable_ he is and frankly, Matt is not a rash person but he’s found himself legitimately toying with the idea of shoving the two of them into the recording studio together and locking the door until they kiss or confess their undying love or  _something_  to stop the madness.

One day, about a month into this ridiculous pining fest, Joel finally burst into the room (with Chipotle this time) right before Adam is due to walk in.

“ _You_ ,” He said, waving a finger threateningly, “you are going to get Adam’s motherfucking phone number and you are going to fucking  _talk_ to him. Or so help me, no Chipotle for you.”

“What? No, Joel, I’m hungry! And why would I – I don’t need to – “

“If the next words out of your mouth were  _I don’t need to talk to Adam_ , then you are sorely mistaken, because you literally talk about him  _twenty-four seven_. When we were playing Smite on Friday night, you literally  _annoyed_ the randoms on our team into disconnecting. You are  _infatuated_ with this man, and if the two of you don’t start getting to know each other so you can fall in love and live happily ever after and I can be your best bridesman and help plan your wedding and be the godfather of at least one of your children, I will fucking fire you.” Joel ranted, and Sean opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Adam came walking through the door.

“Oh, hey, Joel. Hey, Sean. Ready to get to work?” Adam asked, face crinkling into a smile at the sight of Sean, who was more than a little pink after Joel’s tirade.

“Yeah, actually, Kovic, I’ll be gone next week, so if you could just write down your phone number for Spoole here, yanno – just in case something happens and you have to cancel, that’d be great. Figured I’d ask before our little Spooleo here forgot to.” Joel said, plastering a smile on his face, and although Adam was more than a little confused about the (admittedly adorable and not at all intimidating) death glare that Sean was giving Joel, he complied, scribbling it down on a scrap piece of paper.

“Just uh, text me so I have you number and all that jazz, you know the drill.” Adam said as he pushed the door to the recording booth open and began to set up. As soon as the door swung shut, Sean turned to Joel.

“I fucking hate you, Joel. I hate you so fucking much.”

Joel just smiled and stood, patting Sean on the head, “You’re welcome, buddy.”

* * *

**_Sean:_** _uh, hey, this is Sean (:_  
 **Adam:** Hey, Sean!   
 **Adam:** So I heard you and Joel talking about Smite the other day…I’m not too good at it, but I was looking to play. You in?  
 **Sean:** yeah! :D I’m always down for some video games! When?  
 **Adam:** Sunday? Like around noon? I have gigs all weekend at night or else I’d say Friday.   
 **Sean:** Okay!!! (:

* * *

**_Sean:_** _I hate you and I love you. :/_  
 **Joel:** What?  
 **Sean:** I’m playing Smite with Adam on Sunday.  
 **Joel:** oooooh, little Sean’s got a video game date!   
 **Sean:** Okay, now I just hate you.  
 **Sean:** Oh, by the way, you can’t fire me, Joel. >:)  
 **Joel:** That’s what you think, but ok.

* * *

Sunday rolled around and was probably the best day of Sean’s life. Adam made up for his atrocious Smite skills with his angry/hilarious commentary. And, likewise, Adam couldn’t get enough of the chirps and squeaks Sean would let out, depending on whether things would or wouldn’t go his way.

They played for so long, shooting the shit and losing epically, that Adam almost missed his gig on Sunday night and Sean forgot to eat both lunch  _and_ dinner.

Yeah, definitely one of the best days of Sean’s life, even if he did wake up at 2 AM to a rumbling stomach.

* * *

On Tuesday, Sean had completely forgotten that Joel was supposed to be “out of the office” that week, so when 12:30 hit and Adam was packing up and Joel was nowhere to be seen, Sean looked down at his grumbling stomach and said aloud, “Joel better show up soon, I’m starving.”

“Joel is out this week, remember? The whole phone thing?” Adam said, walking up next to the smaller man and leaning on an empty space of desk.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot.”

“Do you have any time to get food?” Adam asked, brow furrowing.

“Nah, but I’m pretty sure I have some snacks in my backpack, I’ll be fine.” Sean assured, getting up and gently ushering Adam out of the studio against his sudden protests about Sean’s health and  _you need to eat_ ’s.

* * *

The next two weeks, the studio was closed because of the holidays, but on the next Tuesday Sean had work, Adam walked in with a white paper bag, plopping it down in front of Sean.

“What’s this?”

“Chinese. You need to eat, Sean.” Adam replied with a noncommittal, _what, like I did something wrong?_  type of shrug.

“Joel usually brings me food, Adam, you didn’t have to…” Sean said, trailing off as he reached in to see that Adam had somehow got his favorite.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t eat last week – Joel told me that I take up your lunch break – so I wanted to make sure you got food.” Adam said, carefully omitting the fact that he chewed Joel out for it over the phone on Tuesday night and subsequently told Joel that until further notice, Adam will be bringing Sean food. Joel had no qualms about this, and in fact, gave Adam his master list of “foods that Spoole likes”,  _just_ so that Adam could surprise his little hat-wearing friend and add fuel the schoolgirl crushes.

Joel still came down to chat for a while during Adam’s session, but when he arrived he only had food for one, not that Sean noticed (he was too busy munching down on orange chicken and berating Joel for not being excited about Fallout 4).

* * *

As the weeks went by, Sean (and by association Joel and Lawrence and Matt) started being invited to the gigs that Adam did with his two friends and fellow studio musicians James and Bruce. Joel’s drunk karaoke outings grew from three participants with questionable willingness to seven with almost unabashed excitement. Bruce and James both signed contracts to be studio musicians for Funhaus Records, and due to the sheer amount of work that had to be done, they wound up taking Sean’s Monday and Wednesday lunch hours.

Somehow, Adam found out about this (and by somehow, it was really Joel flat-out telling him), and he began showing up three days a week with food for Sean, anything from takeout to homemade sandwiches, and took to sitting in the studio with Sean while he recording James and Bruce on Mondays and Wednesdays.

In fact, Adam and Sean began to spend all of their free time together, whether in a group or by themselves, sometimes playing games together in their own homes and other times going out together and there were even days where they just spent hours creating Sean- and Adam-shaped buttprints on each other’s couches.

Meanwhile, the other five men had to constantly listen to Sean and Adam separately, privately gushing over each other to their friends. This is much to their dismay, because frankly, they could practically feel the emotional and sexual tension dripping off of the two whenever they’re in a room together.

* * *

Months later, it’s actually Lawrence who does it. Well, Bruce starts it, Lawrence finishes it, and really, if thought is put into remembering it, it was a drunken team effort all around.

They’re all out at a bar one Friday night. Adam, Bruce, and James just finished their set and were collapsed in a booth, vinyl sticking to their bodies as they slowly downed bottles of both water and beer, the air conditioning doing nothing to help them in the summer heat. Adam, despite being sweaty and overheated, draped himself half-over Sean, wet face pressed into Sean’s collar. Sean unconsciously reached up with his free hand to pet Adam’s hair back – even with the intense amount of product Adam had lathered into his hair to keep it up, the sweat made some of it stick down onto his forehead.

Simultaneously drunk and also exhausted from a three-hour gig on drumset, Bruce glanced over at the two and scoffed.

“You two need to just fucking – just fucking fuck already or  _something_.” He spat out, gesturing vaguely with his beer.

“Wh-what?” Sean spluttered, and Adam lifted his face out of Sean’s neck to glare at Bruce menacingly.

“No, no, he’s right. You have to be blind to not realize that you’re in love with each other. Realistically, it should’ve happened already. If it wasn’t for the fact that literally  _all_ of us know otherwise, I’d think you’re already together.” Lawrence added.

Both men just sort of looked at each other like they realized for the first time that Adam was  _laying_  on Sean before Sean removed his hand from Adam’s hair and Adam awkwardly shoved himself into a seated position, a good three feet of space created between the two.

(Lawrence would later get the scolding of a lifetime from Joel, who would remind him exactly  _why_ Drunk Lawrence shouldn’t be trusted because  _really you couldn’t just keep your mouth shut? Now they’ll get all awkward and it may never happen!_  Joel was, really, only half-right).

* * *

The following Tuesday was the worst of Sean’s life.

Not because of what he originally thought was going to happen – Sean was under the impression that he would have to endure an hour and a half of extraordinary awkwardness.

Now, Sean  _did_ want to kiss Adam. And also cuddle with him when they watch movies and hold his hand in public and cook together and call Adam little pet names when he got angry at video games and be able to tell random strangers in the crowd  _that’s my boyfriend_  when he went to Adam’s gigs. (He also  _desperately_  wanted Adam to, as Bruce had so eloquently put it, _fucking fuck him_ , but that wasn’t in the forefront of Sean’s mind).

But the awkwardness of their friends calling them out on their feelings meant that even though  _Sean_ wanted these things,  _Adam_  might not, and even that very thought made Sean uncomfortable.

But the following Tuesday, to Sean’s surprise, was awkward in a completely different way.

Sean sat and waited for the entirety of the 11-12:30 block, and to his dismay, Adam did not come. Joel had brought him lunch on Monday, so Sean didn’t think anything of it, but this – Adam was supposed to record guitar for a movie soundtrack starting this week, why would he not show?

Sean, as usual, had an unfortunately packed day, and by the time he was done (a particularly hotheaded trumpet player went over his time by thirty minutes because he needed to ‘warm-up’), Joel had already left for the day.

**_Sean:_ ** _Adam didn’t show for his session today. Did he contact you? :((( Joel already left for the day.  
 **Matt:** Adam recorded in Studio B today._

Oh.  _Oh._

Sean spent the next two days wondering what the hell he was supposed to do with that information and then the following three drinking heavily and hatching a plan to fix it.

The plan, itself, was simple – Sean simply had to convince Joel to let him work in Studio B for the day  _without_  telling Adam that he was working in Studio B and then time it right that he is in the room before Adam sees him so that he can bar the door with his body and tell Adam how he feels.

Yes, it was the type of plan a fourteen year old girl would come up with. And yes, maybe Sean was being a little ridiculous by doing things this way instead of just  _calling_  Adam and asking to talk. But Sean really,  _really_  wanted to fix this – whatever it was. At this point it was  _I will take whatever Adam I can get_  and thusly Sean’s judgement calls were more than a little questionable.

Joel’s judgement, however, was still sound, so when Sean came to his office early Monday morning with his master plan, he was more than a little skeptical.

“Wait, why the fuck do we need to do this?” Was Joel’s first response, quickly followed by, “How drunk were you when you thought up this plan?”

“I need to talk to Adam,” Sean said, pointedly ignoring the alcohol comment, “and since he evidently asked to move his recording session, I can’t talk to him there.”

“Is that what he said he did?” Joel asked, and Sean’s face scrunched up for a moment.

“Well, no. When he didn’t show up on Tuesday I uh – I assumed he didn’t want to talk to me so I just didn’t text him. I figured I’d give him some space, yanno?”

Joel’s head fell into his hands and he let out a loud groan, “You two are  _idiots_ ,” Joel stood and walked around his desk to place his hands on Sean’s shoulders.

“Spoole, alright, listen to me. Adam texted me on Monday, said he was scared of your reaction to what Bruce and Lawrence said. I told him I would bring you lunch and gauge how you’re feeling – because for once in your small awkward life you  _didn’t_ text me all about your emotions – and then I would tell him what to do. You seemed so out of it on Monday that I told him that maybe it would be best if he spent a week or two  _not_ recording with you, because frankly you seemed completely out of your mind. And you still do, but that’s beside the point. Point is,  _I_ told Adam to go to Studio B last week.  _I_ told him to wait for you to text him because usually you emoticon your problems  _all the fucking time_. Adam didn’t come talk to you because he’s been  _waiting_ for you to talk to him, as per my instruction. Adam wanted to call you the  _next fucking morning_  but Matt and I talked him out of it because we knew you’d probably be a stuttering mess and wanted to give you a little time to sort your thoughts out.  _Do you understand?_ ” Joel shook Sean a little with his last sentence.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,  _oh_  is fucking right. Now, you’re going to call Adam, and you two are going to go eat lunch together somewhere, I don’t care where, and Lawrence is going to work Studio A for today. Go get your hunky bitchface man!” Joel declared, already pushing Sean out the door before he had a chance to respond. Before Joel slammed his door behind Sean, he actually  _pulled_ Sean’s phone out of his pocket and shoved it into his hands.

Now, this wasn’t the first time Joel had almost practically groped Sean, and it probably won’t be the last, but that’s a whole other story that really doesn’t have to be addressed.

Point is, Sean called Adam, right there, standing  _right_  outside Joel’s super swanky office in his baseball cap and plaid over shirt and blue jeans.

_“Hello? Sean?”_ Adam asked down the line, picking up almost immediately, and not even oblivious Sean could mistake the  _relief_  in Adam’s voice.

“Hey, Adam, uh, could you – did you want to – maybe get some food? Like, right now?” Sean stuttered out.

_“Yes. Yes, Sean, I would love to.”_ Adam responded immediately.

Sean barely contained his sigh of relief, “Okay. Awesome.”

_“What would you like to eat? Chipotle, Chinese, Italian?_ ”  

“Want to just go to that coffee shop across the street from the record studio? I’m kinda standing outside of Joel’s office and he told me to leave for the day, so…”

_“Sure, of course, whatever you want - wait, what? Why?”_

“I mean, it’s a long story, but basically he just ranted at me and - I’ll explain when you get to the coffee shop.”

* * *

Sean did explain, everything, when he and Adam both had bowls of surprisingly delicious soup in front of them. He explained the entire situation from his end, from the moment that he thought Adam was ignoring him, through his entire thought process, all the way until Joel’s exasperated, ‘I’ve had enough of your shit’ rant right before Sean called him. Sean even began to admit that he did actually  _like_ Adam and wanted to do relationship things with him and that he was just afraid Adam didn’t feel the same way or something and assumed things and –

“Woah, woah, hold on, Sean, calm down. It’s okay. I’m sorry that there was such a big misunderstanding.” Adam said, finally cutting off Sean’s nervous tirade. Adam reached across the table and hooked his forefinger around Sean’s pinky, gently dragging both hands towards him. Once Sean’s hand was close enough, Adam laced their fingers together.

“I should’ve done this a long time ago, but Sean, I feel the same way about you. And I’d like to take you on a date. None of this skirting around it, or bringing you lunch. A real, proper date. Would – would you let me?” Adam asked, rubbing at the back of his neck with his free hand, practically holding his breath.

Sean broke out into a wide grin, eyes crinkling at the corners, “Yes. Absolutely.”

If Adam got a  _tad_ overzealous at Sean’s response and crashed their lips together, over the table in the coffee shop, right then and there, well – only the barista who had to mop up the spilled soup would ever know.

(It, however, should be noted that once Adam and Sean started dating, it turned into a great discussion of  _who got those two idiots together because it was certainly not them._ It leads into some…interesting arguments and lots of Joel screaming, and eventually the unanimous agreement of the men (sans Joel) that it was in fact Drunk Lawrence that was the catalyst of the relationship. But Joel insists that he helped. Even though he didn’t. At all. He sort of single-handedly caused both men one of the most heart-wrenching weeks of their lives due to his meddling).

**Author's Note:**

> (crossposted from tumblr)  
> merpwrites.tumblr.com


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